Ghataprabha is a village in the southern state of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

, in north Karnataka

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

.Village code= 47500 It is located in the

Gokak Gokak is a taluka headquarters in the Belgaum district of Karnataka state, India. It is located around 70 km from Belgaum at the confluence of two rivers, the Ghataprabha and the Markandeya. The population of the city is according to 20 ...

taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

of Belgaum district in Karnataka.

Demographics

As of the 2001 India

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

, Ghataprabha had a population of more than 80,000. There are two hospitals, KHI (Karnatak Health Institute) and JG Co-operative Hospital, which also has an Ayurvedic Medical College. There is reservoir built near Ghataprabha, across the

Ghataprabha River The Ghataprabha river is an important right-bank tributary of the Krishna River and flows eastward for a distance of 283 kilometers before its confluence with the Krishna River at Chikksangam. The river basin is 8,829 square kilometers wide and ...

, to store water for irrigation. The first stage started in 1897 and comprised a 71 km-long left bank canal from the Dupdal weir, across the Ghataprabha River near Ghataprabha, into the Gokak Canal. It provided irrigation to an extent of 425,000 hectares. The second stage of the reservoir project comprised a left bank canal from Dupdal weir from 72 km to its full extent of 109 km across the Ghataprabha River near Hidkal, up to a height of 650.14 meters. The Ghataprabha Reservoir has storage of about 659 million cubic meters, providing irrigation to a total extent of 1,396,000 hectares of land, inclusive of the area under stage I. The third stage of the project includes raising the Full Reservoir Level of to 662.94 meters. This would create gross storage of 1.448 billion cubic meters, channelised into a 202 km-long right bank canal and the 86 km-long Chickkodi Branch Canal. This would irrigate 191,386 hectares of land and bring the total area under the project to 3,310,000 hectares. Ghataprabha is also known for its wholesale vegetable market. Vegetables from Ghataprabha are distributed not just across northern Karnataka, but also to various cities in Maharashtra and

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

Bird Sanctuary

Ghataprabha Bird Sanctuary is 29.78 square kilometres, and its boundaries enclose a stretch of about 28 km of the Ghataprabha River, including the reservoir resulting from the dam built near Dhupdhal. The sanctuary is known for

migratory birds Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by ...

such as the demoiselle crane and

European white stork The white stork (''Ciconia ciconia'') is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to ...

. It is surrounded by agricultural fields. Between November and March is the best time to visit the sanctuary, when most of the migratory bird species nest there.

Transportation

Rail

Ghatprabha is on the main

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...

grid, being part of south western division, and is well connected by rail to major destinations such as

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

, Goa and

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

. Ghataprabha's railway station is the oldest in this region.

References

External links